


Press Start

by sincerelysobbe



Series: Jij Verliest [1]
Category: WTFock | Skam (Belgium)
Genre: M/M, Sander Sees Robbe, Sander's POV, teaser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:20:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerelysobbe/pseuds/sincerelysobbe
Summary: After a long day of work, Sander goes to meet his friends at their favorite bar to unwind and ends up laying eyes on the most beautiful man that he's ever seen.
Relationships: Sander Driesen/Robbe IJzermans
Series: Jij Verliest [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760539
Comments: 24
Kudos: 153





	Press Start

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> This story is a teaser for my upcoming story called Jij Verliest where Robbe is a Twitch Streamer and Sander is a tattoo artist and the resulting love story with these boys in every universe. While the majority of the main story will be from Robbe's POV, I felt that I wanted this teaser from Sander's POV since the story will be lacking from his POV. I posted more information about it on my Tumblr because it's one of my more ambitious ideas, but I can't wait to go on this incredible journey with you guys and hope you guys enjoy this teaser for my story.

**Dinsdag 17:45**

There was a little bar down the street from Sander’s apartment, where the group of them always seemed to find their way to at the end of the week. There wasn’t anything fancy about it—no pounding music or neon lights—only a handful of signature drinks that changed with each month and a menu full of delicious food. There were a handful of televisions on the walls and black and white pictures that looked at least 80 years old. There was a jukebox shoved in the corner that would play every song imaginable, recycling through each genre with a high frequency. The bar was family-run and operated, passed down from father-to-son and then father-to-daughter, and had managed to retain its homey vibe since it originally opened. 

Eagerly stepping out of the harsh summer sun, Sander Driesen pushed back the strands of his hair that were sticking to his forehead. Even as the sudden burst of air-conditioning cooled his entire body, the stickiness of the sweat from his walk still pinned his black shirt to his skin. Thankfully, he had chosen to wear his sneakers instead of his Doc Martens, or else he would’ve been dying. 

Behind the bar, the afternoon bartender and owner, Lilly, barely glanced up from counting down the drawer to glance over at him with one raised eyebrow at his attire. Yeah, he thought, a black t-shirt and black jeans and a leather jacket firmly in his grasp (which he only wore at work because his boss liked to keep the tattoo parlor on the verge of an ice age) was probably  _ not  _ the best idea for making the trek to the bar. But Sander had forgotten his metro card in the apartment this morning… so he was forced to walk the entire way or wait for Senne and likely get put to work in the meantime.

The extra money would’ve been nice and Sander loved what he did. But he had spent the majority of the afternoon working on a rather large dragonfly piece on a girl’s shoulder. It was a detailed and intricate design designed by her mother and she wanted it to come out perfectly. Sander understood the need (he had a quote on his rib that his mother used to say) and so, he knew that the task required his full attention, or else he feared that he would ruin the sentimental tattoo. 

But Sander had managed to complete it only a few minutes over his shift. When the girl had seen it with the help of well-placed mirrors, she had started tearing up and tackled Sander on the spot, mumbling her thanks unintelligibly into his shoulder. But with the amount of effort that it took to complete the tattoo, he was in desperate need of a glass of ice-cold beer and relaxing night out with his friends.

Even if he had to walk in the summer heat to get there. 

Smiling weakly at Lilly, he raised his hand and extended his pinky upward. As she counted the rest of the money, Lilly nodded her head in his direction as he headed to the back of the bar to one of the tables that stood there. His table of choice was near the jukebox and it was the one they tried to get whenever they could manage it. Nearly collapsing in one of its four unmatched chairs, Sander let out a sigh, hanging the leather jacket in his hand on the back of it. His skin was flushed and burning beneath his clothes and outside of them. 

“You’re here early.”

As she walked up to the table, Lilly placed a coaster against the table before setting the glass of beer on top of it. Sander grinned at her appreciatively before taking a sip of the cool drink… and then took a large one as a comforting chill flashed through his body. Lilly tilted her head to the side, her dusty brown ponytail bobbing as she did so. She was tall and slender, barely looking a day over thirty despite nearing her fiftieth birthday. Every time that Sander came into the bar, Lilly would always treat him like a son and Sander always welcomed the easy affection. 

Sander shrugged. “I walked really fast to get out of the sun.”

“I can tell,” Lilly said, materializing a wet rag out of nowhere. She pressed the damp towel against his forehead. The rag was cool to the touch, like it had just been submerged in a bucket of ice-cold water. A slight moan slipped past Sander’s lips as he curled like a cat in the direction of the cool rag. Lilly let out a laugh, practically a snort. “Here, you can have it. I have more rags behind the bar.”

Sander eagerly swiped it from her hands, wiping the sweat off his arm covered in tattoos before moving to the other which was completely bare. “Thanks, Lil.”

The front door let out a ring, signaling there was a new person who entered the bar on the sunny Tuesday afternoon. 

“I’ll be right there!” she called as she briefly took the towel back. She folded it in her hands before placing it against the back of Sander’s neck. Sander let out a groan of thanks, placing his head against the cool wood of the table, relishing the cold chill of its surface in comparison to his flushed forehead. “That should help you cool off a little bit faster. Let me know if it needs to be sprayed with cold water again.” 

“Thank you.”

Lilly chuckled and patted his shoulder. 

Despite the low hum of the televisions, each of which likely had a different station on, Sander could hear Lilly talking to someone about what they wanted and the patron’s quiet response. With each passing second that he spent in the bar, Sander could feel his body return slowly to a normal temperature. Lilly always kept the bar cool, even lower whenever she expected there to be more people to be in the enclosed space at night, and Sander had never been more thankful for her than he was now. 

Without warning, the jukebox kicked on. Because it was almost an arm’s length away, he could pinpoint the metallic hum above the commotion of the bar, the brief pause of energy kicking through the machine, waking it up, and it roaring to life. The hum continued, the interface of the jukebox trying to figure out what song to play, and then, finally, the opening chords began to play. The music, the notes, and the lyrics washed over him like a tidal wave, crashing over him and wrapping him in a feeling of comfort, even as his body continued to cool down.

David Bowie. 

_ Rebel, Rebel. _

On instinct, his body reacted to the song. He sat up from the table and tilted his head back, letting the chorus wash over him.  _ Rebel, Rebel _ was one of his favorite songs and David Bowie was his all-time favorite artist, so he really couldn’t help himself. His foot tapped against the metal bar of the stool, he drummed his fingers against the edge of the table, and sang the lyrics under his breath. If it had just been him and Lilly, he might’ve stood on the stools and belted out the lyrics, but she would give him a nasty look if he tried it with customers around. 

Humming the chorus, Sander opened his eyes. His body had almost completely returned to normal temperature now. The wet rag Lilly had given him was only succeeding in getting the collar of his shirt soaking wet. Removing the towel, he reached out to grab his beer, the condensation on the chill glass making his fingertips slip a little, as he carefully tried to take a drink. 

As he put the slick glass of beer back down against the coaster and the main chorus of  _ Rebel, Rebel  _ ripped through his body like an electric shock, he caught sight of the man at the bar and Sander was certain that the breath was ripped out of his lungs.

The man was leaning against the counter, a half-drunk glass of beer in front of him. His brown hair was short but curled naturally at the tips and he had wide brown eyes that were focused on Lilly, listening to her talk with rapt attention. His smile tugged up the corners of his lips, a pair of dimples popping up. Even with such a marginal distance between them, Sander could pinpoint the freckles on his cheeks, his artistic eye naturally finding a pattern to them. Lilly said something that got a lovely giggle out of him, shaking his head as he took a drink of his beer. 

_ Fuck, _ Sander thought, swallowing.  _ He’s beautiful. _

In fact, Sander was certain that he had never seen anyone as beautiful as this man. He was sure that no one else could ever possibly compare. If he had his camera, the one that Senne and Amber had gotten him for his birthday, he would’ve taken a picture, or two, or twenty—enough to memorize him, to look back on his beauty, to this moment. But Sander already knew none of them could ever possibly compare to the real thing—to the man standing there, leaning against the counter, looking like a beautiful angel who had just descended onto Earth. 

Sander felt something stir in his stomach as the man glanced at his watch before taking the final drink of his beer. Lilly said something, probably offering him another drink, but the man shook his head, pulling his wallet out of his pocket to pay. He was going to leave, walk out the door to the bar, and Sander would likely never see him again. Sander needed to meet him, to open his mouth to introduce himself, maybe get out a line or two to make an impression that would allow them to see each other again. He didn’t care that Lilly was there, that she would likely tease him about it the moment he was gone, but it didn’t matter because he could take the teasing.

All that mattered was that he introduced himself before the man walked out the door.

Gripping his glass, Sander took the towel off his neck and took another sip of his beer. Then, he shifted in his seat, moving to get up, to walk over to the bar, all while trying to find something memorable to say. But the front door opened, the bell rang, and Sander turned to see a man walking into the bar with a duffel bag over his shoulder. The beautiful man turned, taking a step toward the door, and the new one met him halfway, grinning down at him, “Here’s where you went off to.” 

“Sorry,” the beautiful man managed before the new one ducked down to press a kiss against his lips. It was a quick and fleeting kiss, but Sander felt something stab into his chest and the seconds dragged on. Trying his best to not seem disappointed, he shifted back into his seat and simply took another drink to stop himself from going over there. However, he couldn’t turn his head away, his eyes trained on the beautiful man. “I know that you and Leon have an important trial coming up. I didn’t want to get you in trouble if I heard critical details about your strategy.” 

“It’s okay,” the man said, grinning down at him. Then, he nodded towards the door, reaching out to take the beautiful boy’s hand. “Come on. We’ve got to get to your mom’s place for your party or else Jens might wring my neck in for stealing you away from all your friends celebrating.” 

“I certainly wouldn’t mind it,” the smaller one replied. His boyfriend grinned down at him. “He knows how much I don’t like surprise parties.” Still, he turned towards Lilly, smiling at her. “Thanks for the beer and the talk. I hope everything goes well with your daughter’s schooling. I’m sure she’ll do great.”

The bartender smiled over at them, already cleaning the glass of beer that he had used. “Anything for the road for you two?”

“No, we’re good. Thank you though. We aren’t going far,” his boyfriend spoke. Wrapping an arm around the beautiful man’s shoulder, he tugged him in the direction of the door, pushing it open with his duffel bag. Lilly sent them a “good day,” but it was muffled as Sander found his eyes trained on the beautiful man with his bright grin that was pointed at his boyfriend. The man easily fell into his embrace, wrapping an arm around him, and let himself be dragged out of the bar. 

The door of the bar slammed shut, triggering the bell again, and  _ Rebel, Rebel _ ended on the jukebox to his right, shifting to a sad song that made Sander want to shovel coins in the machine until he found a song that would summon the man back again. “Are you feeling any better?” Lilly asked, taking the empty glass from his fingertips and replacing it with a full glass. 

The answer was no, but his body temperature had at least returned to normal.

In fact, with the guy out of the bar and out of sight, dragged away by his boyfriend—Sander didn’t even get the chance to put a name to a face so beautiful—he felt strangely cold. Despite the summer heat outside and the warm burst of hot air that had flooded when the door had opened, his body shivered almost violently and his stomach churned. The two of them had looked happy and in love.Maybe it was for the best that Sander didn’t get his name. 

“Yes, I am,” Sander said, realizing that he hadn’t responded to Lilly’s question. “My body temperature has now completely returned to normal.” Lilly chuckled. Sander wanted to put the beautiful guy and his boyfriend out of his mind, move on because he knew that he would never see them again. But somehow, his mouth was opening and he was asking, “Who was that guy?” 

“I don’t know,” Lilly said, reaching out to grab the towel from the table. Sander hid his disappointment by taking a drink of his new beer. “He just came in to have a drink while he waited for his boyfriend to get off work. Apparently, he works at a law firm near here.” She paused, raising an eyebrow. “Why?” 

“Just curious,” Sander replied, grinning over at her. “Generally, the only people who come in here are regulars.” 

Lilly rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder before moving back to the bar again. As she moved to continue counting the drawer, Sander glanced at the clock nestled between two pictures. It was past 18:00 now, which meant that Lilly’s relief would be here soon. And, his mind reminded him, his roommates would be here any minute now. 

The door opened, the bell rang, and Sander looked, hoping it was the beautiful man once again. But it was Noor, dressed in a long-sleeve blue velvet dress. As the door slammed close, she grinned over at Lilly before moving to Sander. She threw her arms around his neck in a hug before pushing herself up on the seat beside him. “Hey, how was your day? I came in to get a late lunch with you, but Emilie said that you were really busy with a customer. Did you get her piece done?”

“Yeah,” Sander replied. “I finally managed to get it done. Where’s Senne? Wasn’t he picking you up today?”

“Yeah, he’s a little behind me,” Noor remarked, smiling over at him. “He ran into someone he knew on our walk here and stopped to talk to them because it had been a while. But it’s too hot outside and I wanted to get inside.” Noor gestured in the direction of Sander’s black outfit. “Something that I’m sure you understand.” 

“While this is my normal aesthetic, you know that I would be wearing shorts if my boss didn’t require us to wear jeans,” Sander said. Noor smirked at him, shaking her head. “When are you coming in to get that tattoo that you wanted for your grandma? You know that I will do it if you come in.”

“Well, you haven’t been working weekends lately and I do have my own job, you know?” Noor answered, raising an eyebrow. Sander nodded. She had a point. His boss had stopped scheduling him on weekends as of late. “And you’re the only one in that tattoo shop that I would trust to do something this important to me.” Noor squinted, looking at him with a curious expression. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t know,” Noor said. “You seem a bit off.”

The image of the beautiful man, the one whose name he didn’t get the chance to find, flashed in his mind and his stomach gave a painful squeeze. But Sander nodded to ease Noor’s worry, smiling at his best friend and saying, “Yeah, I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m always going to worry about you.”

“Yeah, Sander,” Senne said, appearing to his left. The brunet had two glasses of beer balanced in one hand and Noor’s favorite drink in the other. She took her drink with a thankful smile and Senne practically thrust one of the beer glasses in Sander’s. Now that he wasn’t doing a balancing act, he wrapped an arm around his neck and placed a kiss against Sander’s cheek. “How was work?”

“Good. You?” Sander asked as Senne sat in one of the remaining chairs. As Senne launched into a tale about what happened at work, Sander tried his best to listen. However, his mind kept conjuring images of the beautiful man. What if Sander had talked to him before he left? What if his boyfriend never showed? What if he was there to see  _ him _ ? He shook the thought from his head—there was no use in trying to imagine another world where things were different.

It was highly likely that Sander would never see him again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: ravenbrenna09


End file.
